I just stumbled across a handy media kit put together by the Association of Postal Commerce (PostCom) for any mailers that are concerned about do-not-mail bills in their area. The kit includes facts and links to information about some of the misinformation around paper and postal use.

Most inspiring is the variety of sample letters that mailers can use to communicate with nonprofits, the media and their legislative representatives.

Of course, underpinning any progress in this movement is mailers’ actual commitment to the environment. The PostCom materials claim: “The volume of material landfilled amounted to 138.2 million tons in 2006 — that’s less than the volume of MSW landfilled in 1990 when the country had 50 million fewer people.”

If mailers expect to use these and other positive facts in letters to voters and Congressmen, they also must ensure that this positive progress in reducing negative environmental impact continues.

Publisher’s Clearing House, which I recently wrote about for its launch of PCHtv.com, is back in the news. Promo reported that the company has alerted its members about fake sweepstakes mailings that claim to be from PCH, Oprah Winfrey and O Magazine.

The mailings include seemingly real checks that are, in fact, counterfeit. Consumers are led to believe the checks are an advance on a large cash prize and that they should cash the check and wire money back to an address to receive the remainder of the winnings. This address turned out to be false.

Everyone has received spam e-mail claiming to be making the recipient a millionaire, but direct mail seems to be one of the less obvious places for fraud as printing costs and mail’s tangible nature seem to be an easy target for law enforcement.

While all companies need to be wary of fraud and identity theft, I’m curious about the actual printing aspect of the crime. Not that printers would in any way be responsible for the incident, but do printers have some sort of code of ethics? For example if I were to walk into a printer and ask to have these mailings printed, would I need to show any identification that I was actually working with the company mentioned in the mailing? I’m still doing some research on the topic, but in mean time feel free to leave comments.

More to follow…

Since joining DMNews in November, I’ve already worked on two of our “Essential Guide” supplements – and quickly realized what a great resource they are in terms of learning about the industry, whether you’re been in the direct marketing business for years or are just getting started. With dozens of top industry experts contributing to various sector topics (our Essential Guide to Lists, Databases and Data Management ran in our 1/28  issue and the Essential Guide to Multichannel Retail will be in our 2/25 issue), I don’t believe you can read through an entire Essential Guide and not learn a tremendous amount.
 
Right now I’m in the thick of gathering submissions for DMDeliver, or the Essential Guide to Direct Mail, which will run in our 3/10 issue. We already have experts from all around the worlds of direct mail, postal and printing/production preparing contributions to the supplement – but of course I’m looking for more! With so many important industry issues on the table, from changing postal regulations and mail legislation to advances in printing technologies and data services, it’s more important than ever to share your opinions and best practices. Feel free to e-mail me if you have any questions about how to be a part of this exciting issue.